Composite heel-lift.



Patented Dec.` 3, 190|.

Nu. 688,04l.

J. F. VIDETU.

COMPOSITE HEEL LIFT.

(Applicatenled Dec. 24, 1900.)

:No maden.)

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L/l//TA/ESSES /WKQ 4 UNTTED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN F. VIDETO, OF FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE A. REMICK, TRUSTEE, OF NEWTON CENTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMPOSITE HEEL-LIFT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 688,041, dated December 3, 1901.

l Application tiled December 24, 1900. Serial No. 40,846. (No model.)

T0 all whom it' may concern,.-

Be it known that I, JOHN F. VIDETO, of Framingham, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Composite Heel-Lifts for Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved elastic heel or heel-lift for boots and shoes and more secu re means ot' fastening such heels or lifts in place for use without impairing their elasticity and with less delay in applying them.

My improved heel-lift is peculiar in its com'- posite character, being made up of vulcanized rubber, steel, or equivalent metal and leather. The body of the device is of compounded rubber, with a marginal strip of metal embedded in its upper portion when vulcanized, such strip having a series of upwardly-extending prongs struck up from it at intervals, leaving corresponding openings through it, which the rubber fills in vulcanizing. These prongs extend through a welt strip or layer of leather forming the upper margin of the heel-lift and are bent down hat or clenched upon it to secure the metal strip, and with it the body ofthe heel-lift in which it is embedded, to the leather welt-strip. Vertical nail-holes are formed in said body when vulcanized, and when the heel-lift is to be applied to the boot or shoe the nails are inserted therein and driven by use of a suitable tool through the openings in the metal strip and through the leather Welt into the heel portion of the boot or shoe, the nail-heads being received in the enlarged openings of the metal strip and bearing against the under surface of the welt, so that they do not wear the rubber or lessen its yielding capacity. The metal strip embedded in the rubber is thus secured by its prongs to the welt-strip, and the welt is secured to the shoe-heel by the nails when driven, thus making a most eiective mechanical fastening for the heel-lift without the usual reliance on cement for this purpose. Cement may be applied between the rubber body and the welt before the metal prongs are clenched, as this tends to exclude moisture.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents, partly in section, the heel portion of a boot or shoe provided with my improved heel-lift. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the composite heellift ready for application to a boot or shoe. Fig. 3 shows the rubber body and the protruding prongs of the embedded metal strip, and Fig. 4 is a plan of said strip.

5 represents the body of the heel-lift, formed of compounded rubber properly shaped and vulcanized in a mold.

6 is the metallic strip of horseshoe shape embedded in the rubber, its prongs 7 being formed of metal punched from the strip at intervals along its central line, adhering thereto at one end and leaving corresponding openings 8 through the strip. (See Fig. 4.) These prongs are rounded at tip and slightly curved at the other end; where they start from the strip, to lessen the danger of breakage.

9 is the leather welt, having the same U shape as the metal strip 6, over which it is l placed. It has a series of transverse slits through it to receive the upturned prongs 7,

and when suchprongs are fully extended by pressing the welt into close contact with the rubber the tip of each prong is bent aside and clenched down upon the upper surface of the welt to hold the parts in permanent union.

(See Fig. 2.) As made for the market the 8o edge of the welt projects slightly, so that it may be trimmed to conform tothe shoe when secured thereto, as in Fig. 1.

The nails 10, which secure the composite heel-lift to the shoe 13, are inserted through vertical holes l1, molded in the rubber, the body of such nail passing upwardly through the metal strip, the leather welt and the various lifts of the shoe-heel and the nail-head occupying part of the rubber-:filled opening 8 9o in said strip and bearing firmly against the under side of the welt, which is held to the rubber body 5 by the clenched prongs 7 of the embedded metal strip. (See Fig. 1.)

In forming these heels or heel-lifts the pronged metallic strip is first properly located in the mold, the proper weight of rubber compound placed therein, and the mold closed during vulcanization. The softened rubber penetrates all the openings through the strip 6 and is vulcanized while in position on both sides of it, so that such strip is thoroughly IOO anchored therein, with its prongs protruding, as in Fig. 3.

I claim as my invention- 1. The described ,composite heel-lift, consisting of t-he elastic body 5, the curved metallic strip 6 embedded therein, and formed with integral prongs 7 protruding upwardly, and the leather welt orlayer 9 secured to said heel-body by said prongs passing through and clenched above it, substantially as set forth.

2. The described composite heel-lift, consisting of the elastic body 5v molded and vulcanized with vertical nail-holes near its outer edges, the metallic strip 6 embedded in said body and formed with integral prongs 7 and corresponding openings S registering with such nail-holes, and the leather welt or layer 9 slitted to receive said prongs and secured marginally on the upper surface of the heel by the clenched tips of the prongs, and adapted to be secured to the shoe by the up- Ward passage of the shoe-nails through such holes, openings and Welt,'substantially as set forth.

3. A boot or shoe provided with a yielding composite heel-lift, comprising the vulcanized rubber body 5,'the pronged metallic strip 6, 7, with openings 8, and the leather welt or layer 9 secured by such prongs to said body, in combination With a series of nails introduced vertically through holes molded in such body and through said openings, the stem of each nail penetrating the Welt and shoe-heel and its head bearing against the underside of the Welt, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have aflxed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN F. VIDETO.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, 1I. W. LADD. 

